1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a board connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H09-283241 discloses a conventional board connector. This connector includes a housing to be mounted on a circuit board and an alignment plate mounted on the housing. The alignment plate has positioning holes that receive and position leading ends of terminal fittings pulled out from the housing. Two legs project from the bottom surface of the housing and engage the circuit board. Screws penetrate through the circuit board and engage the legs to fix the housing to the circuit board. The use of screws to fix the above-described housing on the circuit board requires a separate series of operational steps and creates a large operational burden.
Clips have been considered in place of screws to provide a one-touch operation for fixing a housing to a circuit board. The clips could be inserted into mounting holes of the circuit board and resiliently deformable locking claws formed on the clips could engage opening edges of the mounting holes of the circuit board. However, the locking claws may be deformed inadvertently in unlocking directions with the housing supported on the circuit board and locking strength tends to lack reliability.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation and an object thereof is to allow for improved operability when mounting a housing of a board connector on a circuit board and improved reliability in locking strength.